Tag: feed

Marco Carbonara – Using 10 species of animals to profitably regenerate 100 hectares of forgotten Italian land between Rome and Florence

26th November 2024 koenvanseijen Nutrients to Soil, Regenerative Agriculture, Role of Animals, Short Food Webs 0 Comments

A conversation with Marco Carbonara, cofounder, owner and farmer at Pulicaro Farm, in Lazio, Italy. A special early morning walk through permanent pasture surrounded by multispecies graziers, donkeys, cows, sheep, goats, chickens and, of course, some guard dogs, which means a lot of pleasant and present background sounds. We are in the hills between Rome and Florence and have the great pleasure to visit the farm of Marco and Chiara. Marco takes us on the morning walk to feel, smell, and see regeneration of permanent pastures in a Mediterranean landscape. Definitely not easy, but definitely possible, and yes, also profitable.

How did Marco, who had no farming experience 20 years ago, approach regeneration back then, and how does he approach it now? When they take on new lands, what are the first steps, and how much has he learned over the last 20 years? What is the role of animals in regenerating the Mediterranean landscape, and how does he handle the challenging balance between running a company, needing to break even, and wanting to regenerate as quickly as possible?

We also discuss the challenge of feed: is it okay to bring feed for the non-ruminants in your rotation from outside the farm when your soils can’t yet sustain needy plants like wheat, barley, etc.? And if it is, how do you deal with the challenge of potentially competing for human food? We only scratched the surface because it’s impossible to capture 20years of deep regeneration in just one hour, but we tried and we hope you enjoyed listening to it as much as we did recording it.

Yanik Nyberg – Are saltwater plants grown on tens of millions ha of abandoned, drained salt marshes going to be the livestock feed of the future?

11th October 2024 koenvanseijen Regenerative Aquaculture 0 Comments

A conversation with Yanik Nyberg, co-founder of Nara Climate and Sea Water Solutions, about feed for aquaculture and on-land livestock, salinity—when soils get saltier. Millions of hectares of former soil marshes close to the coast have been drained over the last thousands of years and often farmed, slowly but surely because of rising seawater levels. Soil water is creeping back in, and traditional farming is getting impossible. What do we do with these millions of hectares? One way is to rewet them and grow salt-loving plants called halophytes. These plants are also great feedstock for the aquaculture industry and poultry to replace the massive negative impact of soy.

So, what is holding back the large feed companies from incorporating this novel but originally the feedstock of many fish into their mixes? Interestingly enough, most of the world’s deserts are getting saltier too. Because of extreme rain, yes, it rains in the desert every now and then, which leads to flash floods. Millions of livestock pastoralists and their animals are suffering because of drought and floods, and the salts make their grass-based pastures disappear. Could the magical salt-loving halyphoates also be grown in the desert and feed these animals?

Alf Gøran Knutsen – The good, bad opportunities of the multi million dollar salmon industry, from shooting lasers under water to feed

6th August 2024 koenvanseijen Regenerative Agriculture, Regenerative Aquaculture 0 Comments

Salmon: there isn’t a more contagious topic within aquaculture than salmon farming. With Alf Gøran Knutsen, CEO of Kvaroy, a leader in the world of sustainable salmon farming, we discuss the opportunities to grow a potentially very sustainable source of protein and omega-3 in a way that makes sense. We explore the fascinating world of salmon, mostly open-net pen aquaculture in the ocean in Norway, but also hybrid flow-through models. We discuss biology and technology, feeds- from using wild fish which we could eat like anchovies from Chile to soy from questionable sources in the ex Amazon- and the crazy developments in this very young industry. We also discuss AI and how lasers are shooting sea lice from salmon underwater.

Salmon farming is the biggest success story in aquaculture, at least in the global north, but it is also full of huge challenges like pollution. Picture salmon feces floating out of a net pen, sea lice, and all the chemical solutions used to combat these parasites.